Yet, thou eternal Watcher of the tides,

Knowing their passions, tell me! Why must we

Rapturous beings of the spray and storm

That, chanting, beat our hearts against thy shores

Of aspiration—ebb? ebb and return

Into the songless deep? are we no more

Than foam upon thy garment?

Another wave has broken at your feet

And, moaning, wanes into oblivion.

But not its radiance. That flashes back